The Honours Academy celebrates its tenth anniversary. How did the institute develop over time, and what are aspirations for the future? We speak with the current Dean and a predecessor who was there at the Academy's founding. A conversation about identity, inspiration, and impact ensues. ‘It is about…

At the Faculty of Science, forty per cent of the employees are of a non-Dutch nationality. Amongst PhDs that is even sixty per cent. How are they doing in a time of working at home in a different culture, when travelling is not possible? Clinical pharmacologist Lu Chen is the third in this series to…

Countries that import plastic waste recycle an average of at least 63 percent of it. This is surprising, as we previously believed that the vast majority was incinerated or ended up as litter. This was discovered by PhD candidate Kai Li and his colleagues from the Institute of Environmental Sciences in…

The orbits of 27 stars orbiting closely around the black hole at the center of our Milky Way are very chaotic. As a result, researchers cannot predict with confidence where they will be in about 462 years. ‘That is astonishingly short,’ says astronomer Simon Portegies Zwart who collaborated on the r…

Criminology students Simone Kruijt and Noor Hekker conducted research into cybercrime in Leiden and presented their findings to the regional police and an enthusiastic Mayor Lenferink. The conclusions call for a new approach, said Lenferink.

Leiden University College students collaborate with peers in Gaza and Myanmar to explore the social determinants of health through storytelling, reflection, and shared lived experience.

Research

Webinar with Q&A

Webinar with Q&A

As coordinator and lead promoter respectively of the Leiden Healthy Society Center, psychologists Sandra van Dijk and Anke Klein use interdisciplinary collaboration to resolve the major health problems of the present day. How are they going to do that in the coming period?

Book presentation

Lecture, Economic and Social History Brown Bag Seminar

Course

Workshop

Workshop

Course

With Leiden2022 drawing nearer, LeidenGlobal is busy developing extra activities to demonstrate the knowledge that is present in Leiden and to create interaction with a wider audience. With this valorisation, the partnership between several cultural and academic institutions in Leiden matches the theme…

Eiko Fried has been appointed professor of Mental Health & Data Science. This combined chair neatly fits the view that understanding complex mental health issues require the integration of statistical methods. ‘The idea that mental health problems are monocausal entities with simple etiologies is no…

Over a century ago, Alexandra van Elroy's great-grandfather left for Japan, where her grandmother was born. Together with her mother, Maaike van der Loon, she reminisces about her family history, through which a key thread is the study of Japanese and Chinese.

During the New Year's Reception at FSW, new Dean Sarah de Rijcke gave her maiden speech. The first official moment at which she's able to share what she stands for and what to expect of her. In case you weren't there, or you want to read the speech at your own pace, below you can find the integral copy…

Professor Eline Slagboom has been studying multiple generations of families for over 20 years. She collects data on why some people age healthily and others decline early.

Marjolein van Reisen has been Institute Manager Finance for a year, and Wiesje Zikkenheiner has been Institute Manager HR for two months. This duo job is by no means a luxury in an ever-growing organisation. Marjolein: 'We’re both new to this world, so we have our hands full.'

In the Pioneers of Leiden University series, we talk to past and present students who were the first in their family to go to university. In this second instalment: historian and university lecturer Nadia Bouras (1981). ‘Although I only found out later that was my mother’s dream, it was as though I…

As Board Secretary, Corry Donner aims to be a ‘spider in the web’; someone who keeps a watchful eye on and brings together all the different perspectives of the institute’s board. Now she's left her carefully woven web at the university and transfer her tasks to her successor. Last September, we talked…

How do we create connection? And how can we build student resilience? These were just some of the questions explored by study advisers, teaching staff and student counsellors during the Staff Symposium on Student Well-being.

What should we do about litter in the countryside? Can you tell from camera images if someone is guilty? And what does your heart rate really look like? Get answers to these questions and more at the free ‘Wijsneus Festival’ on Friday 16 September at Leidse Hout Park.

Workshop

Book Presentation | Studium Generale Lecture

Leiden psychologists receive an Outreach Grant from the Young Academy Leiden (YAL) to talk about facts and fables in their field of research. Marieke Bos, Lara Wierenga, Marit Ruitenberg and Sanne Willems will receive up to €1000 to realise their project.

The tuk-tuk of the European City Of Science Leiden 2022 sent science on its way to the neighbourhood. On the Vijf Meiplein in Leiden, Andrea Evers' placebo team pitched its tent to everyone who wanted to know more about the effect of words and expectations. Experience the day of the placebo effect in…

PhD defence

Master’s students in the Honours Class ‘Leiden, City of Refugees?’ were asked to contemplate the concept of ‘the other’ from both an academic and an artistic perspective. The result was the exhibition ‘The Invitation’ which was presented at Stadsbauhaus on 4 June.

From an academic study with local residents to a specially developed newspaper: humanities scholars contributed to Leiden European City of Science in various ways. In this video, they look back on a special year.

From 22 to 24 October, researchers of the MARBLES-project informed museum visitors about microbes: bacteria and fungi that live all around us. The event was organised around the Micro-day of Leiden, which is this year’s EU City of Science.

Hundreds of students and staff from Leiden University gave a ‘whistle concert’ on 11 December against the planned cuts to higher education. Similar protests were held in other student cities on the same day.

In this episode, we talk with Mariska Kret about the expressions of emotions in humans and animals. Mariska explores the similarities and differences in emotion expression in humans and primates. Want to learn more about Mariska's research and discover why it's important that we learn more about animal…

In this episode, we talk with Leonie Vreeke and Nina Komrij about the Cool Little Kids research project. CLK explores the effectiveness of training parents of anxiety prone toddlers to prevent their children from developing anxiety on a later age. Want to learn more about their research and discover…

In this episode we talk with Mara van der Meulen about prosocial behaviour and social exclusion in children. Van der Meulen also explores the role of genetics and environment in the development of social behaviour. To find out more about her research on why some children are beter able to develop their…

You can find here questions and answers about the new mobility policy and what this means for the commuting allowance, the home-working allowance, the contribution to internet use, domestic business travel and the kilometre allowance via the Individual Choices Model.

The tuktuk of the European City Of Science Leiden 2022 sent science on its way to the neighbourhood. In the town center of Oegstgeest, the Empathy Team, consisting of Liesbeth van Vliet, Hinke Hoffstadt, Yvette van der Linden and Jenny van der Steen, took interested visitors on a journey into the experience…

Nederland heeft geen nationale bloem en daar wil het radioprogramma Vroege Vogels verandering in brengen. Verschillende experts van Universiteit Leiden zijn betrokken bij de verkiezing.

As part of her Anthropology studies, Leiden student Marleen Kop has made a short documentary about the importance of Leiden-Noord’s ‘soup time’. Her chosen method was participative observation – she spent months helping residents prepare the soup – and the film can now be viewed online.

Leiden University staff will be starting the national staggered strike against the cuts to higher education on 10 March. The Leiden and The Hague Action Committee is calling on staff to join teach-outs at schools and other public organisations on that day.

As of 1 April 2025, Lodewijk Govaerts will be standing down from the Board of Governors due to other commitments that will demand a significant part of his time and attention within the foreseeable future. Govaerts does not want this to affect his ability to fulfil his role on the Board of Governors…